Kicking off last week and continuing through this Thursday, DOC NYC is a utopia for the year’s best documentaries. One of the most promising will have a premiere tomorrow and today we’re pleased to premiere an exclusive clip. Big Sonia follows one of the last remaining survivors of the Holocaust, the 90-year-old Sonia, who is faced with an eviction notice after running her late husband’s tailoring business.
“There are many sides to Sonia – she’s a tiny, dynamic woman – who never stops trying to make an impact in her own small ways,” co-director Leah Warshawski, and Sonia’s granddaughter, tells us. “She’s the only survivor in the Kansas City area who speaks regularly about her experience during the Holocaust to students, prisoners, and anyone who will listen. This clip is from one of our first trips to see her speak at a middle school, and we came home from this day inspired to keep working on the movie after seeing how teens relate their own challenges to Sonia’s.”
Check out our exclusive clip below, along with the festival trailer.
As one of the few remaining survivors of the Holocaust, Sonia has shared her inspirational story for years. More recently, after initial resistance, her daughter has joined her, taking on the legacy so that no one ever forgets. The colorful 90-year-old, filmmaker Leah Warshawski’s grandmother, has spent decades honoring another legacy, running her late husband’s tailoring business, the last shop in an otherwise dead mall. When she is served with an eviction notice, Sonia must face her biggest fear: retirement.
Big Sonia premieres tomorrow at DOC NYC. See more information here.